Naked on the streets of San Francisco

A few of years ago, it came to my attention that it was legal to be naked in San Francisco. Sadly, as of 2015 that's no longer the case, but back then it was. At least so I heard. So when I found myself on a business trip out there, I decided to stay through the weekend and explore the city a little. I talked to a couple of people about the city nudity situation and I was told that, while it was legal, people weren't necessarily running around naked everywhere all the time. Nonetheless, there I was, it was a brisk but sunny spring weekend, and so I figured I might at least see what's up.

I walked around the city and eventually made it to the intersection of Market and Castro. I was told that naked people sometimes hang out there and my curiosity was peeking as I approached. However, much to my disappointment, I saw no one naked. I walked around a bit wondering what to do.

Now, if you've never been to this particular intersection you might not know that it's one busy place. The subway emerges there, the streetcars stop right there, cars whiz by on Market St, and clouds of tourists meander from one store and restaurant to the next. And there I am, in the middle of this mayhem wondering whether nudity is in fact appropriate, let alone legal, or whether someone was just pulling my leg.

There was only one way to find out.

Right at the intersection of the two streets, I found a little urban park - nothing more than a little concrete patio and a few metal chairs and tables. So, I walked up to one of the benches, took off my jacket and laid it down so I would have something other than cold metal to sit on. And then I proceeded to strip buck naked, right there, in the middle of all the traffic, right among the clouds of people wandering by. I neatly folded my clothes, sat down, and started reading a book. My heart was pounding and I couldn't for the life of me focus on the book in front of me. I must have read the same sentence a million times without paying attention to it at all. At the same time, I didn't want to appear anxious and out of place so I tried to play it cool.

And it was amazing. What's more amazing though, is that within about five minutes, at least five other people joined me and next thing I knew, I was in the middle of an urban nude beach in the urban center of a large city. It seemed that there were a bunch of people in the area looking for exactly the same thing as me, but they were all waiting for someone to take the plunge first. Needless to say, I made new friends that day and even though my solo nudity only lasted a few minutes, it was exhilarating.

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